It has come to this … again … the Clippers as local fans’ last, best and only hope.

Winter still belongs to the Lakers here, or did as long as they had Kobe Bryant, to his very last game April 13, 2016, a date that will live forever in fans’ hearts.

Spring belongs to the Clippers these days.

No, really. Assuming you’re still following the NBA here, the Clippers are all you have left.

The Clippers are actually legit – the NBA’s No. 2 team over the last five seasons, if one of its most anonymous.

Only the Spurs at 292-102 had a better record than the Clippers’ 262-132 with Golden State at 261-133.

The winningest team in the East was Miami at 251-143.

Just to show how tilted the local landscape has been, the Lakers were 151-243.

If the Lakers still rule local hearts and minds, it was never more shown more clearly than last week when we went from Bryant’s magical finale to the subdued-by-contrast Game 1 of the Clipper-Portland series three nights later.

ESPN’s Jay Adande noted the last game of the season felt like the marquee game. The playoff opener felt like the letdown.

That’s what the Lakers have done to the Clippers.

Not only are the Lakers measured against their own standards so that only championships count, the Clippers are measured against the same standards.

The Clippers have made the playoffs the last five seasons … more than they did in their first 27 here and their six in San Diego combined.

They reached the second round in three of the four and figure to make it four of five.

Of course, who cares if the Clippers merely transcend their own woeful standards?

Also, if you’re coming off last spring when you were one win from the West Finals, with a 19-point lead late in the third quarter of Game 6 in Houston … and then blew the whole thing … it doesn’t feel like such a triumph.

To their credit, the Clippers are right back where they were last spring.

Some good teams are boring. The Clippers are not only fundamentally solid ‑ No. 6 in offensive efficiency, tied for No. 4 in defensive efficiency—but spectacular.

They stopped carrying on about Lob City when Coach Doc Rivers arrived but they still toss the ball over the basket to see how high DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin can jump to jam it.

They were inspiration to boot this season, finishing No. 4 in the West as unsung players like Luc Mbah a Moute, Cole Aldrich, Pablo Prigioni and Wesley Johnson made up for losing Griffin.

Of course, when your human highlight reel is out from Christmas to April Fool’s Day … after breaking his hand punching out the equipment manager … it doesn’t feel like such a coup, either.

Face it, this was some terrible NBA season around here.

— Bryant starts out looking like he can’t hit water from a boat.

— The Lakers say they’re dedicating the season, not to rebuilding and hope, but to Kobe and nostalgia. In other words, they’re writing it off, whether Kobe can hit water from a boat or not.

— Laker fans pine for Byron Scott to start D’Angelo Russell.

— Russell shows just how young he is, recording Nick Young’s confessions in a video that winds up on the internet, prompting teammates to shun D’Angelo.

— Griffin goes out Dec. 26 with a torn tendon in his quad suffered in the Christmas victory over the Lakers.

(The Clippers are 16-3 the last five seasons against the Lakers who haven’t beaten them since Oct. 27, 2013.)

Amazingly, the Clippers went 30-15 without Griffin. The role players brought in by Rivers made a mighty contribution, even after dumping Josh Smith and Lance Stephenson who lived down to their reputations.

If Doc is on the hook for moves that didn’t work (letting Darren Collison go to sign Spencer Hawes, Hedo Turkoglu, Jared Dudley, et al.), this became the most cohesive, if least celebrated, of his three Clipper teams.

Now all the Clippers have to do is finish off Portland and see if they can fell a giant ‑ Golden State, which would presumably await in the second round ‑ so someone around here will know they’re alive.

Mark Heisler has written an NBA column since 1991 and was honored with the Naismith Hall of Fame’s Curt Gowdy Award in 2006.